“Ever since I visited my first hard rock underground mine, I felt there was something charming about the underground mining environment.”

Meet Josephine, who works 850 metres underground as a junior mining engineer at our Cliffs nickel mine in the northern Goldfields of Western Australia.

Josephine’s interest in mining engineering and commodities was influenced by her grandfather who owned a jewellery shop in Indonesia.

“My grandfather was involved in the entire process of making gold bullion,” Josephine said.

“During my early years of primary school, he gave me the daily responsibility of reporting the US dollar, gold, and oil prices to him, and then would ask me to guess the next day’s price movement. I found the interdependencies and correlations between resource distribution and the stock market really interesting and this is what motivated me to complement my studies in mining engineering with a major in economics.”

Whilst working full-time at BHP, Josephine is pursuing her Masters of Professional Engineering (Mining Engineering) at the University of Western Australia, and is working towards completing her First Class Mine Manager’s Certificate Competency of Western Australia.

“I really enjoy the multi-disciplinary nature of my degree, combining my interests of engineering and business,” Josephine said.

“Although mining engineering seems to be a very specialised discipline, it is an amalgamation of many disciplines across geology, engineering, conservation, data analytics, economics and finance.”

Through her studies, Josephine has also developed a strong interest in the governance and stewardship of tailings storage facilities.

Josephine loves the challenge of underground mining, its dynamic nature and always thinking on her feet, and hopes to one day become a Production Mine Manager of open pit and underground operations.

All the best in your new role, your studies, and your future endeavours Josephine!